Keeping tabs on all things music

Crowdfunded Vinyl Projects

Here’s a good news for those of you who have loved vinyl all along — or even those who are just getting into it: Vinyl record sales are on the rise. According to the Recording Industry Association for America, vinyl saw a 28-year high in sales in 2015.

That might mean a bit more competition for getting that first pressing of your favorite band’s album, but it also means a lot of good things for people who make music, and for people who listen to it.

It also means one more thing: People who want to start vinyl-related projects now have a much bigger audience for their efforts than they may have had in recent years. So in case you’ve been dreaming of building a turntable that will rival the best record player, now might be the time to realize it.

Now, if you need money to kick-start your project, but don’t have the funds to bankroll it, you might want to try crowdfunding instead. Below are examples of vinyl-related projects that did just that.

The Vertical Turntable

As a lover of vinyl records and the gorgeous artwork that are often included with them, you may have lamented from time to time about the fact that your records have to lay down flat when they’re playing. Not anymore! With the launch of the Floating Record Vertical Turntable Kickstarter campaign, you now have the chance to watch your records spinning and floating in space, vertically. Apparently, a lot of people loved this idea because the project met its $50K fundraising goal within a few short hours — and even far exceeded that goal that same day.

Get Vinyl Records Pressed

Plenty of musicians out there are “old school” enough — and savvy enough — to have their own albums available on vinyl. Unfortunately, most of them simply don’t have the funds to have their works pressed. But once again, this is where the power of crowdfunding can come into play.

Qrates: The Current Option

With the crowdfunding platform Qrates, musicians have a viable way to deliver their music in the vinyl format. Musicians can use the platform to design their sleeves and labels, and even choose the color, weight and speed of the record. From there, you’ll get an estimate of how much it will cost. The next step is to solicit pre-orders from the band’s fan base, using the Qrates crowdfunding resource. When the recording artist meets the quota necessary to press the albums, the project gets sent to a pressing service in their area, and voila, they’re officially on vinyl.

Beat Delete: The One that Got Away

There was once another option for having your albums pressed on demand. But unfortunately, it’s no longer available. Beat Delete offered a similar service as Qrates, but company leaders announced in 2015 that orders had slowed down to the point where it wasn’t worth the effort anymore. But with another service out there doing the job, at least all those vinyl-loving musicians won’t have to go without having any option at all.

Come to think of it, replacing Beat Delete might be a good idea for a vinyl project, specially now that vinyl records are again in demand.